Rokotov–Faibishenko Case
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The Rokotov–Faibishenko case was a criminal
trial In law, a trial is a coming together of parties to a dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court. The tribunal, w ...
against financial
speculators In finance, speculation is the purchase of an asset (a commodity, goods, or real estate) with the hope that it will become more valuable in a brief amount of time. It can also refer to short sales in which the speculator hopes for a decline i ...
, that took place in the
Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
in 1961. It also marked the start of a three-year campaign against large-scale economic crimes, accompanied by
show trial A show trial is a public trial in which the guilt (law), guilt or innocence of the defendant has already been determined. The purpose of holding a show trial is to present both accusation and verdict to the public, serving as an example and a d ...
s.


History


Background and arrests

Ever since the 6th World Festival of Youth and Students, held in
Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
in 1957, dealing in foreign currency had begun to take place on a fairly large scale despite being illegal. Soviets (generally, of a young age) would buy foreign currency from tourists and other visitors, selling it for a profit. In 1961, the authorities broke one such speculation ring, composed of nine people, which had acquired around 20 million
rubles The ruble or rouble (; rus, рубль, p=rublʲ) is a currency unit. Currently, currencies named ''ruble'' in circulation include the Russian ruble (RUB, ₽) in Russia and the Belarusian ruble (BYN, Rbl) in Belarus. These currencies are su ...
in a year. During the search, they found: 344,000 rubles, 1,524 gold coins, about $19,000, almost £500, 3,345 new and 133,000 old
French franc The franc (; , ; currency sign, sign: F or Fr), also commonly distinguished as the (FF), was a currency of France. Between 1360 and 1641, it was the name of coins worth 1 livre tournois and it remained in common parlance as a term for this amoun ...
s, 1,500 West German marks, 8,500
Belgian franc The Belgian franc was the currency of the Kingdom of Belgium from 1832 until 2002 when the euro was introduced. It was subdivided into 100 subunits, each known as a in Dutch, or in French and German. History The ''gulden'' (guilder) of 20 ''st ...
s, other currency,
icon An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Catholic Church, Catholic, and Lutheranism, Lutheran churches. The most common subjects include Jesus, Mary, mother of ...
s and other contraband. The
KGB The Committee for State Security (, ), abbreviated as KGB (, ; ) was the main security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 to 1991. It was the direct successor of preceding Soviet secret police agencies including the Cheka, Joint State Polit ...
investigated the case because contact with foreigners was involved. Those arrested were: , I.I. Lagun, the married couple Nadya Edlis and Sergei Popov (a pianist), the brothers Yash and Shalv Papismedov, their nephew, Ilya (the three of whom bought gold from Edlis and sold it in
Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...
), Vladislav "Vladik" Petrovich Faibishenko and Mubashirya Rizvanova. Rokotov and Faibishenko had a history of making profit, which was not only illegal in the USSR, but also looked down upon as immoral, as it went against the country's
Leninist Leninism (, ) is a political ideology developed by Russian Marxist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin that proposes the establishment of the Dictatorship of the proletariat#Vladimir Lenin, dictatorship of the proletariat led by a revolutionary Vangu ...
ideology. Rokotov had traded in stamps, books and camera equipment (an occupation known as ''
fartsovka ''Fartsovka'' (Russian: фарцовка) is a slang term for the black market profiteering, illegal in the Soviet Union, that consisted in resale of goods manufactured abroad, which were hard to find and inaccessible to an average Soviet citize ...
'') in school and moved up to foreign clothing, before entering the currency business. Faibishenko had bought and sold foreign stockings and chewing gum during the 1957 youth festival. Rokotov (at least) was held in Lefortovo prison, prior to the trial.


Initial case and sentencings

The case was tried in Moscow City Court, beginning on 31 May 1961. The trial lasted thirteen days. On 15 June, Rokotov, Faibishenko and Edlis were sentenced to fifteen years' imprisonment and confiscation of all property. Lagun, the Papismedov brothers, and Rizvanova received eight-year sentences and had their illegally obtained property confiscated. Ilya Papismedov was sent to prison for six years. At this point, the influence of
General Secretary Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, Power (social and political), power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the org ...
Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and the Premier of the Soviet Union, Chai ...
began to be felt, and with it the accompanying politicisation of the case. During the trial, the KGB had arranged an exhibit featuring the group's holdings: a mountain of valuables,
Tsarist Tsarist autocracy (), also called Tsarism, was an autocracy, a form of absolute monarchy in the Grand Duchy of Moscow and its successor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire. In it, the Tsar possessed in principle authority and ...
gold coins, a mound of foreign banknotes, packets of Soviet money and bank deposit books. Khrushchev was invited and supposedly remarked: "They need to be shot for this". Although this was taken for yet another of his angry outbursts, he was serious this time.


Retrials and executions

The maximum penalty, in accordance with Soviet law, was eight years (under Article 88 of the Criminal Code of the
RSFSR The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...
). Still, the procurator general of the USSR condemned the "leniency of the punishment" assigned to Rokotov and Faibishenko. Then, on 1 July, the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet issued an edict providing the
death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...
for violators of the laws regarding foreign currency operations. Another edict was issued secretly, applying this norm retroactively to the two men. Aleksei Adzhubei, Khrushchev's son-in-law and editor-in-chief of ''
Izvestia ''Izvestia'' ( rus, Известия, r=Izvestiya, p=ɪzˈvʲesʲtʲɪjə, "The News") is a daily broadsheet newspaper in Russia. Founded in February 1917, ''Izvestia'', which covered foreign relations, was the organ of the Supreme Soviet of th ...
'', saw this as clearly illegal (as retroactive punishment was banned by Article 6 of the RSFSR Criminal Code) and tried to intercede on their behalf, but the General Secretary had made up his mind. On 18–19 July, the case was retried by a panel of three judges at the Russian Republic Supreme Court. The trial was shown on television. The court established that Rokotov had bought and sold 12 million rubles' worth of currency and gold coins, while Faibishenko had bought and resold 1 million rubles' worth of currency. ''Izvestia'' noted that they had "led a
parasitic Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives (at least some of the time) on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The ent ...
type of life and enriched themselves through the benefits created by the working people". Accordingly, on 21 July, pursuant to Article 25 of the Law on State Crimes, they were sentenced to death by shooting and with confiscation of all their valuables and property. The sentence was heard "with approval" by those present. Soon after, both men were shot. They were twenty-two years old. Khrushchev had spoken of a "return to Leninist norms of socialist legality", after years of abuse of the legal system by
Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...
. This case made clear, however, that the rights of Soviet citizens did not extend to capitalist activities, such as profiteering and speculation.


Notes


Citations


References

*Feofanov, Yuri and Barry, Donald D. (1996). ''Politics and Justice in Russia: Major Trials of the Post-Stalin Era'', pp. 22–31. M. E. Sharpe, Inc. . *


External links


The Death Penalty by Andrei Sakharov
The New York Review of Books {{DEFAULTSORT:Rokotov-Faibishenko case 1960s in Moscow Trials in Russia 1961 in the Soviet Union Soviet show trials 1961 in case law Second economy of the Soviet Union Jeans Ex post facto case law